Eddie Fowlkes

Eddie "Flashin'" Fowlkes, a DJ and electronic music artist born in Detroit in 1962, is a figure in the genesis of both techno and Detroit techno music. He is sometimes considered to be a "fourth horseman" of the techno dawning--alongside the "Belleville Three" of Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May. Fowlkes benefited from Detroit's cultural milieu in the 1980s, and he jammed to soul music, especially Motown, as a kid. After becoming a full-time DJ (he received his nickname due to his rapid-fire mixing skills), Fowlkes operated at Detroit's The Music Institute, recording his first single, "Goodbye Kiss" in 1986 for Atkins' Metroplex Records. His debut album, Serious Techno, Vol. 1, followed in 1991. The Birth of Technosoul dropped in '93, and Black Technosoul (which bears Fowlkes' name for his own style of soul- and house-infused techno) was released three years later.